Folded partitioned tray with transparent wrapper



Oct. 31, 1950 c 5. SMITH 2,528,016

FOLDED PARTITIONED TRAY WITH TRANSPARENT WRAPPER Filed March 19, 1946 I N VEN TOR.

Cha'r/es SSm/flz KMZMM wa AT ORNEYS Patented Oct. 31, 1950 FOLDED PARTITIONED TRAY WITH TRANSPARENT WRAPPER Charles S. Smith, Arlington, Va.

Application March 19, 1946, Serial No. 655,479

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to containers, and more particularly to containers such as cartons or boxes, especially adapted for use in distributing or merchandizing comestibles, e. g., sandwiches, cakes and the like of other than rectangular shape.

The volume of present day sales of packaged cakes, sandwiches, pies and the like is very large, and efiicient machinery for automatically wrapping such commodities is in wide general use. The wrapping of such merchandise by means of automatic machinery is highly desirable because of the economy of the machine operation as well as because of the assurance of cleanliness which can be obtained only when contact of the comestibles with human hands can be eliminated or minimized. However, as far as I am aware, automatic wrapping machinery of the kind referred to, and which is now available, is adapted only for wrapping articles of generally rectangular shape and is not capable of automatically wrapping articles in the shape of triangles, such as diagonally out half sandwiches or articles of semi-circular shape, such as half round cakes.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved carton, box, or the like, which is exteriorly of generally rectangular shape so as to be adapted to be wrapped by existin automatic machinery, and which is formed or provided with an interior wall, or interior walls delineating a compartment in which an irregularly shaped sandwich, cake section, or other comestible unit may be positioned and held against displacement so as not to be crushed, broken or otherwise damaged during wrapping and handling of the package.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carton or box of the character referred to which can be formed of a blank made of a single piece of sheet material'such as card board.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carton or box of the kind described in which a wall or partition of a compartment for a comestible article is connected to or engageable with the outer walls of the carton or box at two points only so as to be flexible and capable of readily conforming to or fitting" the article.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carton or box of the class referred to of such construction that when filled and wrapped in a transparent covering, such as Cellophane, the contents may be viewed from both the top and one side or edge of the complete package.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel blank for forming a carton having the novel characteristics set forth above.

Other objects will become apparent from a reading of the following description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a package including a carton embodying the invention in one form;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a blank for forming a carton as shown in Figure 2, or alternatively, for forming a carton as shown in Figure 3; and

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the carton in another form.

The package shown in Figure 1 comprises a carton of parallelepipedal form, generally designated A, enclosed in a wrapping B of transparent sheet material, e. g., Cellophane, or the like. The carton A is set up to provide three triangular compartments, namely, a central compartment l, for holding and protecting a diagonally out half sandwich C, and end compartments 2-2 which may be packed with extra value items such as potato chips, mints, nuts, or other added units generally designated D.

The carton or box Acomprises a bottom 3, back wall 4, end walls 5 and B and a deformable V-shaped interior wall or partition I. In accordance with a feature of the invention, the extremities only of the wall I are connected to the other parts of the carton, and the edge of the partition 1 adjacent the bottom 3 is free from restraining connection to the bottom. Consequently, the wall I is free to float or flex and to conform to the shape of or iii: the sandwich C snugly, yet softly, so as not to deform" it, which would detract from its appearance and render it less easily salable. As shown in Figure 1, the partition I is not joined to and does not even engage the back wall 4, yet the partition is sufficiently close to the rear wall to separate the two extra compartments 22. The sandwich will therefore be held firmly without being crushed, will be attractively displayed; and although lt is of triangular shape, it may be wrapped by automatic machinery now in general use.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the carton A may be formed from a novel blank of sheet material. As shown in Figure 2, a blank A is cut unitarily from a sheet of cardboard or the like and is provided with fold lines to form the oblong bottom 3, oblong back wall 4, end walls 5 and Ii, and the interior wall or partition I, all previously referred to. Preferably, end tabs 8 and 9 provided at the ends of the bottom 3 are adapted to be folded up along' lines It and I I, respectively to re-enforce the end walls and B and to hold the end walls aligned with the ends of the bottom 3 when the blank A is folded to form the carton A.

In the blank A, the black wall 4 is directly aligned with the end walls 5 and S, the partition I, and also with an anchoring tab I2 which is formed as a continuation of the end wall 5, and which serves as part of the partition wall I. The partition I is formed with an attaching tab I3 having slits I4 and I5 adapted to interengage selectively with slits i6 and I! in the anchoring tab I2, thus giving greater or less extent to the portion wall I when the blank is folded into carton form. Thus it is possible to vary the size of the compartment I according to the size of the article it is to contain.

The relative lengths of the partition portion 1 extending from the end wall Ii and the anchoring tab may differ somewhat from the relative lengths of these parts as shown in the drawing.

- Thus, the relative lengths of these parts may be such that the slits on the tabs I2 and I3 may interengage somewhat nearer the back wall of the formed carton or box A.

The back wall may be formed with windows or openings l8-I8 through which the contents of the compartments 2 may be viewed from the rear of the carton A wrapped in the transparent covering.

An information or price indicating tab I9 is adapted to be folded on the line between the end wall 6 and the partition I, so as to extend conspicuously across the sandwich C under the wrapping B.

The package shown in Figure 3 is formed of the same kind of blank A as the package shown in Figure l, but nevertheless is especially adapted for holding a semi-circular article such as a half cake, instead of a triangular article, The adaptability of the blank for forming cartons capable of holding articles of different shapes is due primarily to the flexibility of the partition or backin 'l, and this in turn i due to the connecting of only the extremities of the backing to the other parts of the container. In the package shown in Figure 3 a half cake E is shown in a semi-circular compartment I' and the other two compartments 2'-2' for the extra value contents are of correspondingly altered shape. Otherwise, the parts are the same as shown in Figure 1 and are designated by corresponding reference characters.

I claim:

1. A package comprising a carton of substantially parallelepipedal exterior shape and including a bottom, a rear wall, and end walls, but being open at the front and top and includin a partition extending from the front end portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall to form a carton compartment shaped to receive snugly an object of other than rectangular shape; end tabs respectively extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said bottom and being disposed inside of and contiguous to said end walls, the front edge portions of said end tabs extendin respectively between said end walls and the rearwardly extending front portions of said partition; and a transparent wrapping enclosing the carton.

2. A package comprising a carton of substantially parallelepipedal exterior shape and including a bottom, a. rear wall, and end walls, but being open at the front and top and including a flexible partition extending from the front end Lil portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall to form a carton compartment shaped to receive snugly an object of other than rectangular shape, the edge of said partition adjacent said bottom being free of restraining connection to said bottom so that the flexibility of said partition enables it to assume a. position conforming to the shape of said object; end tabs respectively extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said bottom and being disposed inside of and contiguous to said end walls, the front edge portions of said end tabs extending respectively between said end walls and the rearwardly extendin front portions of said partition; and a transparent wrapping enclosing the carton.

3. A package comprising a carton of substantially parallelepipedal exterior shape and includ-' ing a bottom, a rear wall, and end walls, but being open at the front and top and including a flexible floating partition extending from the front end portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall, the rear portion of said partition being free from support by said rear and end walls to form a carton compartment, the edge of said partition adjacent said bottom being free of restraining connection to said bottom and thereby being deformable and thus adapted to receive snugly an object of other than rectangular shape; end tabs respectively extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said bottom and being disposed inside of and contiguous to said end walls, the front edge portions of said end tabs extending respectively between said end walls and the rearwardly extending front portions of said partition; and a transparent wrapping enclosing the carton.

4. A package comprising a carton of substantially parallelepipedal exterior shape and including a bottom, a rear wall, and end walls, but being open at the front and top and including a V-shaped partition extending from the front end portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall to form a carton compartment of triangular shape; end tabs respectively extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said botton and being disposed inside of and contiguous to said end walls, the front edge portions of said end tabs extending respectively between said end walls and the rearwardly extending front portions of said partition, the edge of said partition adjacent said bottom being free of restraining connection to said bottom; and a transparent wrapping enclosing the carton.

5. A package comprising a carton of substantially parallelepipedal exterior shape and including a bottom, a rear wall, and end walls, but being open at the front and top and including a semi-circular partition extending from the front end portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall to form a carton compartment of semi-circular shape; end tabs respectively extending upwardly from the opposite ends of said bottom and being disposed inside of and contiguous to said end walls, the front edge portions of said end tabs extending respectively between said end walls and the rearwardly extending front portions of said partition, the edge of said partition adjacent said bottom being free of restraining connection to said bottom; and a transparent wrapping enclosing the carton.-

6. A blank for forming 'a carton of substantially parallelepipedal exterior shape and including a. bottom, a rear wall, and end walls but being open at the front and top, and including a partition extending from the front end portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall to form a carton compartment of other than rectangular shape, said blank comprising an oblong bottom part, an oblong rear wall part joined to the bottom part along one of the longer edges thereof, the respective edges of said bottom part and said rear wall part parallel to the joined edges of said parts being straight and constituting parallel outer edges of the blank, end wall parts extending from the respective ends of the rear wall part in alignment therewith, and a partition part extending from and in alignment with one of said end wall parts.

'7. A blank for forming a carton of substantially parailelepipedal exterior shape and including a bottom, a rear wall, and end walls but being open at the front and top, and including a partition extending from the front end portions of the end walls rearwardly and towards the center of the rear wall to form a carton compartment of other than rectangular shape, said blank comprising an oblong bottom part, an oblong rear wall part joined to the bottom part along one of the longer edges thereof, the respective edges of said bottom part and said rear wall part parallel to the joined edges of said parts being straight and constituting parallel outer edges of the blank, end wall parts extending from the respective ends of the rear wall part in alignment therewith, end tab parts extending respectively from the opposite ends of said bottom part, and partition parts extending respectively from and in alignment with said end wall parts; and means on said partition parts for interengaging with each other.

CHARLES S. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D. 150,814 Smith Aug. 31, 1948 1,798,333 Marlowe et al Mar. 31, 1931 1,908,841 Hawks May 16, 1933 2,129,701 Malocsay Sept. 13, 1938 2,303,264 Flick NOV. 24, 1942 2,339,555 Glass Jan. 18, 1944 2,341,930 Lipet Feb. 15, 1944 

